Don't You
by RejectedByBrianHolden
Summary: On the night of his birthday, Reed gets a text from the boy who's been on his mind for months. [Set in Cpcoulter's Dalton verse. Rane.]


_'happy bday Reed! -K'_

_ 'Happy birthday, dear Dormouse. -E&E'_

_ 'Hey reed- happy bday. -D+W'_

Reed set his phone back on his nightstand, rolling over. He pulled his fluffy comforter over his heavily curled head and closed his eyes.

It was a Saturday. Sun flooded through the towering bay windows of Reed and Kurt's dorm room. Outside, birds chirped cheerfully at Reed before taking off to soar through the cloudless spring sky.

Although Reed wanted to lay in bed for his whole birthday, he knew it was inevitable that _someone_ would interrupt him, no matter how many times he told them to leave, so it was pointless to lay around unless he wanted to be scared off his ass by the Tweedles and their Nerf guns. He lethargically sat up, hissing in surprise when his feet met the freezing hardwood floor.

Reed's Blackberry sat atop a large stack of fashion magazines, a collection of both his andKurt's, and Reed eyed it with curious brown eyes as it gave a gentle buzzing, moving slightly. He reached over and grabbed it, brushing his strawberry-blonde curls out of his eyes before reading: _'Hey Reed, its Shane... Happy bday. X'_

The clumsy artist's heart gave a pathetic little flip at the sight of Shane's name. For some reason Reed himself wasn't sure he understood, he constantly found himself running and hiding from anything that concerned Blaine's younger brother. From the moment they met, Shane stupidly threw himself at Reed, making the boy panic at the large amount of attention he wasn't at all used to.

Reed stood and walked over to his latest painting. It wasn't of anything in particular, just bright colors and shapes. He tilted his head as he inspected it. The small teen felt an awkward pang in his chest. The painting reminded him of Shane. Hell, everything reminded Reed of the bushy-haired guy. Sighing, Reed turned away, beginning the journey back to his bed. With a loud bump and an ungraceful crash, Reed walked into the corner of Kurt's coffee table. It was one of the few edges in the dorm that wasn't padded, since it was on Kurt's side of the room.

Cursing under his breath, Reed hopped back to his bed and crawled back under his cesious covers. He curled in on himself. Reed was petite, even more so than Blaine, so his large bed felt more like a warm, padded platform that stretched on forever in every direction. He hated feeling like he was drifting in emptiness like that, so he tucked the blankets under his feet and around his body, effectively cocooning himself in softness. He clutched his phone to his chest.

Reed stared thoughtlessly at the brightly colored dried paint on his hands. His mind drifted to a place it tended to go a lot these days, especially after his mom picked him up at Christmas. Thoughts of his mother, Hilde Van Kamp, the world renowned fashion designer, kept sprouting up like weeds in his brain. With a sad, sinking feeling, Reed realized that his mother had forgotten his birthday. It was already one in the afternoon in Westerville, and his mother was in France. It would be night already over there.

For what seemed like the thousandth time, Reed made excuses for his mother's forgetfulness. _She was probably busy... _he thought sleepily, _She'll call in the morning..._

Somewhat comforted by that hope, Reed drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

He woke again only a short while later. Well, it seemed like only minutes to Reed, at least. His phone was buzzing lightly in his palm. In the darkness of his blanket fort, the brightness of Reed's phone screen was harsh and blinding. He threw off the thick covers with a loud huff. The dorm was now all shades of blacks and grays. Moonlight from outside flooded in and shadowed the tall trees outside the window, giving them a hauntingly beautiful look.

Hastily, Reed checked the time on his phone. 10:32 pm. He had actually slept through the whole day, just like he wanted, and that was eerily abnormal. The twins normally designate special time out of their days to mess with him.

Remembering the text that had woken him, Reed pulled up his messages and opened the new one.

_'Reed- meet me at Warbler Hall in 15. Please come. -Shane X'_

The tiny singer spent several minutes staring at the text, his breathing gradually picking up speed until he was nearly hyperventilating. Shane was at Dalton? Why did he want to see Reed so late into the night? Most important, above all those things, how the hell was Reed supposed to pull together an amazing outfit and make himself look presentable in 10 minutes?

Reed leapt out of bed then tripped, stumbled and fell into his closet. He jumped back up and began pulling everything he loved off the rack, throwing them onto his bed. After a moment of divine intervention, Reed finally decided on an outfit suitable for meeting with Shane in.

He scrambled out of his Dolce pajamas and into his new outfit. Flicking on the light at last, Reed checked his color coordination, then poked and prodded with his light curls, placing them with practiced expertise. Still breathing quickly, Reed checked his phone and began to panic. He only had 5 minutes to get over to Warbler Hall.

Unceremoniously tossing his phone into one of his pockets, Reed rushed out of his heavily padded room and down the hall, trying to be quiet although he occasionally tripped over his own feet and stumbled a few paces. Why was he so anxious to meet up with Shane now? What had changed? Why wasn't he pushing the Sophomore away anymore? All these things ran through Reed's head, and he couldn't for the life of him come up with a reasonable answer for any of his questions. In record time, the boy burst through the thick mahogany doors of Warbler Hall, panting unattractively.

Reed looked up to the stage and his heart gave an odd kick. Shane's back was to him, but when the door loudly swung shut he spun around. At the sight of Reed, his face split into a handsome grin. "You came..."

Reed felt his breath hitch as Shane gave him that look of pure adoration. He tentatively smiled back, causing Shane to grin impossibly wider.

Shane toyed with one of the black curls that fell into his hazel eyes. He was obviously overjoyed to see Reed after weeks of being inexplicably ignored. Reed shuffled up to the stage, a strange feeling of lightheadedness setting in. Shane pulled Reed onto the stage with ease.

"You look great, by the way..." The feeling of Shane's beautiful eyes drifting over Reed made the small teen blush stupidly. It was as though Shane was trying to memorize all of him.

After several moments of a weirdly comfortable silence, a wide, goofy grin melted across Shane's face.

"I have a song for you," he said simply, running offstage. The clicks of a guitar case being opened echoed loudly off the walls, filling the whole hall with the noise. Shane quickly reappeared with a shiny black guitar. "Isn't that Blaine's guitar?" Reed inquired sheepishly. "Yeah," Shane glanced down at it before looking up again with a toothy smile, "but let's just forget to tell him I borrowed or touched it, yeah?" he winked, rendering Reed unfairly flustered.

Reed really wanted to say what was on his mind, but the words wouldn't form in his mouth. How was he supposed to explain why he ignored Shane for so long if he himself didn't even know? Reed felt bad for not giving _some_ kind of explanation.

Soon, Shane had finished tweaking with the silver tuning heads and glanced up at Reed. He suddenly looked self-conscience. Reed blushed when they made eye contact, but decided to move closer. He placed a hand gently on Shane's forearm, smiling at him encouragingly. Shane smiled sheepishly and Reed smiled slightly wider, letting his hand drop to his side again.

The artist really, desperately, _pathetically _wanted to say something, _anything, _to Shane, but his voice refused to work. Every time he looked at Shane, his breathing stuttered and he felt light and airy. His inability to talk was becoming quite annoying, actually, because he had a lot to say. Knowing himself though, he didn't trust his mind and his voice to co-operate, so he remained silent as Shane prepared to play.

With a deep breath, Shane picked the first few notes and began to sing.

_Say, wasn't that a funny day?_

_ Gee, it had a funny way_

_ A way about you_

_ The kind of glow_

_ of something new_

_ And sure,_

_ I'll admit that I'm the same_

_ Another sucker for the game _

_ kids like to play_

_ And the rules_

_ they like to use_

Reed stood, gaping stupidly, in front of the taller boy. Blaine and Shane had both insisted that Shane's only musical talent was guitar, but Reed would swear that Shane's voice was one of the most brilliant things he had ever heard.

_Don't you want the way I feel?_

_ Don't you want the way I feel?_

_ Don't you want the way_

_ I feel for you?_

The blonde boy felt his eyes begin to well up and he ducked his head in embarrassment. He felt so touched by the song Shane chose, and the look of utter love the tall guitarist was beaming down at him proved just how much he meant the words.

_Go_

_ How so very apropos?_

_ A goodbye just in as I_

_ said hello_

_ Well, alright,_

_ I'll see you later_

_ It's true_

_ It's just a fantasy for two_

_ But what's the difference if it all_

_ could have been true?_

_ I guess this is better_

Shane repeated the chorus and the song dwindled out:

_Don't you want the way I feel for you?_

Reed's throat felt tight and uncomfortable, and his eyes were swimming. He looked up to see Shane in the same state, his brow creased with nervousness.

"Shane, I-" Reed managed to squeak out, only to be interrupted by the other boy.

"Reed, I know... I know this is all scary as hell and brand new, but... take a chance. Please," Shane put the guitar down and took a strong stride closer towards Reed, taking the smaller boy's hands in his. "Take a chance on me."

The fashionista swallowed thickly and stared into Shane's deep golden eyes. Leaning forward, standing on his tip-toes, Reed hesitantly ghosted his lips over the other boy's. He had never kissed anyone before, boy or girl, and he was terrified. Up until now, he had never understood the big fuss people put up about their first kiss. Now he got it completely. It was the scariest, most wonderful feeling Reed had ever felt. A storm of butterflies were flying through his stomach, and his heart was fluttering so furiously he thought his chest may burst.

Shane closed the gap between their lips. It was only the faintest, softest touch, but it sent sparks exploding through Reed's body, making him nearly wobble on the spot. Shane pulled Reed into his arms and pressed his cheek into the small artist's soft hair.

"... I-I love you, Reed."

Reed's heart stopped. What was he supposed to say? He didn't know if he loved Shane or not. He felt happy around him though, and Shane made him feel like he was the only person who mattered. Like he was the only person Shane saw. Reed felt secure in Shane's arms, as if he could take on the world as long as Shane stood by his side. Butterflies were still flying around madly in his body, and sparks were still burning their way through his arms and legs, too. Was that love? With a soft little breath, he realized that, yeah, that just might be love. Or... or at least something close to it. Something powerful, strong and lasting that Reed knew he couldn't ignore. Reed realized that, as long as he had Shane, he would be happy. He didn't want to be miserable anymore, he didn't want to feel what he felt when Shane was away. Reed had always pegged that feeling as guilt caused by avoiding Shane so much, but now he realized it was that strange connection someone felt to a loved one, the weird dependancy on the other that made being apart for long so painful. Maybe Reed had been ignoring Shane because, when they first met, he had felt the weirdest tingling sensation when he looked at Shane for the first time, like his heart was on fire. Maybe he was running away from the fact that, through all the times Shane had stared after him with those wide, adoring puppy dog eyes, Shane had started to grow on him. Maybe he was scared to accept that over the past months, Shane had made him feel things Reed had never felt before. The feeling of being wanted. Needed. Loved.

Reed wrapped his arms around Shane's torso and held him tight, his heart nearly bursting with joy.

"I... I love you too, Shane."


End file.
